None Of This Would Have Happened
by Roper
Summary: Moments before Atlantis falls an ancient gives the team plus Weir and Beckett the opportunity to change the past and save a friend. all character centric.altered to make more sense


Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N hope you like it, I've been thinking on this one for a while.

…….

Chapter One:

'None of this would have happened if that stupid, self-sacrificing bastard hadn't gone and died. Asshole. I knew it was the end of Atlantis right then and there, that without him we would be lost. And I was right, it took a year to fall but I was right. Normally that three word phrase would make me incredibly smug, but considering the ramifications, not so much. and here we are, waiting for the self destruct to count to zero, to take our home, our lives, our salvation. Wow if I hadn't known better I'd've thought I was a poet. But I do, and I'm not. And here we are.' Rodney was distracted from his inner monologue by Dr. Elizabeth Weir who was asking him something.

"Rodney, you have to put in your code." She said, annoyed at his distraction from the task at hand.

"Oh, right." Rodney spoke, turning back to the computer he was in front of and typed in his code. When he was finished he heard the all too familiar sound of the self destruct sirens in the background. The lights flashed around him and he had to shake his head to regain his concentration. Just when he'd got it back, Carson spoke, saying words that were so familiar because he'd heard them many times from many different people, but one time in particular came to the fore front of his mind, the day he'd always remember, the worst day of his life.

…….

"McKay, Shut up!" Rodney was shaken from his long winded rant to look over at his best friend with an annoyed glare at being interupted.

"What is it now?" he said, irritated.

"Nothing, I just thought maybe you might want to stop to breathe every once in a while." Sheppard spoke with a smirk, which resulted in another glare from the annoyed physicist.

They had been on this world for all of 20 minutes, a completely uneventful 20 minutes, and McKay had found no energy readings of interest which, in his opinion, meant this trip was useless and so he'd proceeded in telling the rest of the team so for the past 19 minutes and 30 seconds. Other than the shockingly violet sky and two suns, the planet looked like any other they had been to.

The bored scientist relented from sending a biting remark back at his friend, actually he didn't so much relent as get distracted again. Atlantis was currently in an extremely cold winter and, at the moment the heating systems were down. Who knew that winter came in August on Atlantis? So, in readying himself for the mission McKay added two extra sweatshirts to his person which were now practically sending him into heat stroke as the weather on this planet was exceedingly hot. The sweat was pouring off of his body and Rodney was very, _very _uncomfortable. Sheppard seemed to notice this discomfort and turned his attention from watching Teyla and Ronon setting up a perimeter.

"Why'd you wear all that anyways?" he couldn't resist irking the scientist.

"I was cold!" the smaller man shot back whilst putting down his equiptment and unzipping his jacket.

"And, being the genius that you are, you assumed that the weather would be the same on every planet, even after looking at the temperture readings from the MALP." The pilot commented innocently.

McKay looked back at him with yet another glare and opened his mouth to say something when he realised that his friend was right, so he settled for scowling at him which only succeeded in amusing Sheppard even more. As McKay continued to undress, Sheppard's smirk turned into a frown.

"Where's your vest?" his tone was deadly serious, but Rodney,as usual, was oblivious.

"It wouldn't fit over my sweater." Without looking up, McKay continued his task, and so he was caught by surprise when a hand slapped the back of his head. He jumped back.

"What was that for!" he yelled at Sheppard.

"First rule of offworld travel, McKay, You ALWAYS have your vest!" the pilot yelled back, severely pissed off at the physicist's carelessness. McKay responded with an eyeroll, returning once again to the task of removing his sweaters. He had taken them both off and was putting them in his pack when something was thrust in his face, he looked up at Sheppard.

"I don't need your vest. This place is uninhabited, no one is going to attack us."

"I don't care if the entire galaxy is uninhabited, PUT IT ON!" just looking at the fury on Sheppard's face caused any comeback to be lost in Rodney's throat. McKay sighed and took the vest, putting it on, when he was finished he looked over at John just as he was putting his jacket it on over his black t-shirt. A shiver ran down his spine, but McKay ignored it assuming he was getting the flu, and proceeded to explain to the rest of the team of how Atlantis would inevitably fall when he was on his deathbed because of the disease that he was sure he just caught.

…….

"MCKAY!" his head jerked up at the sound of Ronon's growl. He looked around the gateroom, ignoring the looks he was getting from his friends. The room was filled with bodies, blood everywhere. He could hear the pounding on the doors as the wraith tried to get through them. then he looked to the broken people before him.

Teyla was gazing around the room aswell, taking note of all they had lost. Her face was filled with sorrow, the scar that ran down the left side of her face reflected the flames that came from what was left of Weir's office. Rodney remembered that scar, left over from their last battle with the Genii. He hated that scar, hated what it represented. He forced himself to look to Carson, who was casting a concerned gaze his way. That happened a lot lately. McKay had lost quite a bit of weight in the year since Sheppard's de-…..departure. Rodney rolled his eyes again and looked to Ronon, the man looked as though the fight for his survival was at an end. He appeared…defeated. That thought was so depressing that McKay, again, forced himself to look away. Elizabeth stood tall and still, with the now familiar look of detachment on her face. He remembered when the expression he associated with Weir was one of emotion and concern for her people, but that was long gone. They don't speak about John anymore, McKay has to strain his mind to remember when they did, if ever. Only seven words came to mind when he thought about it,

_I think I died with him, Rodney. _

The pounding on the doors increased but that wasn't what broke Rodney's concentration. It was the Ancient that appeared in front of him. The others jumped back in surprise but McKay didn't have the energy.

"Who are you?" Weir's voice asked from somewhere behind him. The being turned from the scientist to look at her.

"I am Oma Desela. I am what you call an ancient."

"We can see that." The snark was inappropriate yet unsurprising in the tense atmosphere.

Nobody called him on it.

"What do you want?" Weir again.

"I am here to help you." Spoke Oma, who was unphased by Rodney's attitude.

"But I thought ya couldn' interfere." Said Carson, rather timidly. To be honest, as great as the ancients were, they still scared the hell out of him. Beckett was wary of things he didn't understand and these beings they did NOT understand.

"Normally we cannot. But we have come to a decision. If there is to be any hope of defeating the Wraith, Atlantis cannot fall. This is essential to the continuation of the life in this and every other galaxy." His words were met with silence, until Teyla spoke up.

"How will you help us?"

"You recall the technology by which the alternate version of your Elizabeth Weir used to return to a time before the fall of the Ancestors?" they nodded.

"It has been aproved by the council, the five of you will be returned to a time when Atlantis can be saved. We will not send you back far, but in time to stop an event that will inevitably cause the fall of this city. Do you understand?" he waited while they looked to eachother in confirmation. Weir stepped forward.

"We do."

…….

Elizabeth heard footsteps and beeping in the distance, her awareness creeped back and she felt achey all over, she groaned and opened her eyes. She was in the infirmary, that much she can tell, looking around she saw four other beds, two on her left filled with Rodney, beside her, and Carson on his other side. Across from her were Ronon and Teyla, all four seemed to be waking up just as she had a moment ago.

"Wha'appened?" McKay moaned and rolled over.

"The ancestor, he must have sent us back like he said he would." Teyla pointed out. For the second time Elizabeth realised she was in the infirmary. She was IN the INFIRMARY. The infirmary that had been overrun by Wraith just over a day before. It had worked, they were in the past.

"So we really are in the past, wow." Elizabeth whispered.

"But back when." Ronon brought up a good point. Since they already knew where they were, now they needed to know when they were.

A doctor walked towards the group when he realised that they were awake, he smile and opened his mouth to greet them but was cut off by Rodney.

"What day is it!" getting over his shock at the physicist's rude outburst, the doctor responded,

"August, the sixteenth." He was met with crestfallen faces.

"We only went back two weeks, what could we possibly change in two weeks? The Daedelus still won't get here in time!" Rodney yelled in frustration. The doctor was left in the dark as the group conversed amongst eachother, but was soon distracted by the sound of the infirmary doors opening and left to speak to the visitor.

"Maybe we can send a message to them, tell them to return quicker." Teyla suggested.

"NO no no, the ancient said we have to stop an EVENT. What happened two weeks ago?" McKay interjected.

"The water system shut off." Ronon remarked, this of course was met with snark.

"Oh yes of course that must be it! we'll save Atlantis by fixing the water system!"

Ronon rose from his bed and began walking towards the scientist in a threatening manner when suddenly he froze and looked towards Teyla as if just realising something.

"Teyla?" Teyla turned towards Ronon's voice, noticing the strange tone in his voice.

"Yes?"

"Your face." He said, her hand rose to touch her cheek with a curious look in Ronon's direction.

"Your scars gone lass." Whispered Carson, who'd noticed as well.

"What! But that was like …. 5 months ago! But it's August the sixteenth! We must have gone back over a year!" McKay yelled.

Ronon's attention seemed to wander and he sniffed the air around him.

"That's impossible." He said to himself, looking around the infirmary. Weir's curiosity peaked so she questioned him.

"What is it?"

"I smell something that shouldn't be here." He continued his frantic search around the infirmary with his eyes.

"Good food?" Rodney suggested, receiving a glare from Carson.

"No," the big man said, sounding as though he was controlling his voice, "It's not possible." He repeated.

The doctor returned and appeared annoyed that the warrior was out of his bed. Before he could say anything Ronon bounded past him and out of the infirmary. Curious, the others jumped out of they're beds, still in their scrubs, and ran after him. They followed him all the way to the gateroom, occasionally stopping so Ronon could catch the scent again.

They ran through the doors and stopped beside the gate, the personel in the room looked over at them curiously.

"Where is he!" Ronon barked at them, nobody appeared to understand what he was talking about. He ran up the stairs still followed by Weir, Beckett, Rodney, and Teyla. Walked quickly into Weir's office and, finding nothing, came back out again. Then he headed around each of the consoles and looked underneath and around them all, much to the surprise of the technicians. Finally, he looked as though he'd given up, he stopped at the top of the stairs, appearing confused at himself. Every eye in the room was on him, it was completely silent, broken only at the sound of the breifing room doors opening, but the attention stayed on Ronon. A voice broke through the confused quiet.

"What the hell are you doing out of the infirmary!" The familiar voice came from behind the five of them, they froze in shock, then in unison turned around only to come face to face with John Sheppard.

TBC…


End file.
